Bristol Rovers

This weekend will be a strange one for Darrell Clarke as it will be a rare occasion where his side doesn’t have a fixture, however the Rovers boss is grateful for a break.

“I think the time off will do us some good after fitting in lots of games over the Christmas period.

“However, it is about striking the right balance with resting the players and the amount of training that lads are doing.

“The lads have fitted in a lot of football for this time of the year so we need to get the balance right so that everyone as ready for the last 16 games as possible.

“Everyone is back in Monday all fresh and ready to go until the end of the season.

With only 16 games remaining of the regular Conference season Darrell Clarke is pleased with his teams points return so far this season.

“Although it is early January and we’ve fitted in a lot of games the pleasing thing is that we’ve done well in those games.

“We’ve put ourselves in a position of challenging and that is great because I think a lot of people would have taken that at the start of the season.

“We still have a great chance of catching Barnet at the top but we need to win our own football matches and then the table will take care of itself.

“Our form is good at the moment and we want to continue that way so that we are ready for the final push.

Goalkeeper Steve Mildenhall is the clubs only long term absentee since he picked up a knee injury away at Wrexham in early December and Darrell has told us that Steve [Mildenhall] is back in training.

“He was training today and is back out there on the pitch so there is every chance that he will be fit for the Woking game.

Mildenhall’s return to the squad signals two keepers both trying to secure the gloves for Rovers but Darrell likes the competitive nature of the squad.

“It’s good to see the competition for places throughout the squad and I wouldn’t say anyone here was in their comfort zone.

“That drive and desire can give you that extra 5 or 10 percent at times and sometimes you get players thinking that they are automatically picked but I don’t think that is the case here.

“I’ve changed things around this season, be it tactically or a change in personnel and the whole squad understands that I make these decisions to win games of football.

With the transfer window now open Darrell is looking to strengthen with ‘two or three’ players and the Rovers boss has a few targets in mind.

“We really do our homework on the players that we look to bring in but we are hoping to add two new faces on Monday.

“We need to wait and see how things go but we’re not a million miles away but it has happened to me in the past where my target has gone elsewhere.